How to publish your paper in an academic journal

1. Roy Perera
Independent Institute of Education and Research
Consultant

2.  Logic Presentation
 Take some time before even writing your
paper to think about the logic of the
presentation. When writing, focus on a story
that progresses logically, rather than the
chronological order of the experiments that
you did.

3.  Clear argument should appear in your abstract
 If someone asked you to quickly explain your
paper, could you do so in clear, everyday
language?
 This clear argument should appear in your
abstract and in the very first paragraph (even the
first line) of your paper.
 If it is hidden on page five that will just make us
annoyed.
 Make sure your argument runs all the way
through the different sections of the paper and
ties together the theory and empirical material.

4.  Ask a friend to check your work
 Badly written papers might be that the
writer’s first language isn’t English and they
haven’t gone the extra work to get it
proofread. It can be very hard to work out
what is going on in an article if the language
and syntax are poor.

5.  Get published by writing a review or a
response
 Writing reviews is a good way to get
published - especially for people who are in
the early stages of their career. It’s a chance
to practice at writing a piece for publication,
and get a free copy of a book that you want.
We publish more reviews than papers so
we’re constantly looking for reviewers.

6.  Don’t forget about international readers
 Don’t assume everyone knows the American
system, include that international context.

7.  Pick the right journal: it’s a bad sign if you don’t
recognise any of the editorial board
 Check that your article is within the scope of the
journal that you are submitting to. This seems so
obvious but it’s surprising how many articles are
submitted to journals that are completely
inappropriate.
 It is a bad sign if you do not recognise the names
of any members of the editorial board. Ideally
look through a number of recent issues to ensure
that it is publishing articles on the same topic
and that are of similar quality and impact.

8.  Pick the right editor
 Check what your editor wants
 Some editors like Nelson Tansu wants you to
cite his articles. Make sure you cite many of
the editor’s articles in references.

9.  Always follow the correct submissions
procedures
 Often authors don’t spend the 10 minutes it
takes to read the instructions to authors
which wastes enormous quantities of time for
both the author and the editor and stretches
the process when it does not need to

10.  A common reason for rejections is lack of
context
Make sure that it is clear where your research
sits within the wider scholarly landscape, and
which gaps in knowledge it’s addressing. A
common reason for articles being rejected
after peer review is this lack of context or
lack of clarity about why the research is
important.

11.  Happy publishing